Putin: "Russia will start mass vaccination next week" Israel today

Russian president orders health system to distribute tens of thousands of vaccines • The daily death rate from the country has broken all records and stands at 598 deaths a day

• Russian President Vladimir Putin // Photo: Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced today (Wednesday) that his country will begin an extensive public immunization project against the corona virus and that in the first phase tens of thousands of doses of Russian-made vaccine will be given to the entire population.

Putin made the remarks in a conversation with Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova, and with senior health officials in the country.

"Let's agree on the following, next week I will not ask you for a weekly progress report and instead, start with a mass vaccination of the population.

Let's start working already, "said the Russian president.

Putin's announcement could be seen as an attempt to divert public attention in the country from the severe corona outbreak from which Russia is suffering.

In the past day, 589 people have died in the country, according to official data, from Corona disease, an all-time record in a country that has already experienced three significant waves of virus outbreaks.

Another thing that worries the authorities in Russia is the high rate of deaths among those infected with the corona virus in the country.

The mortality rate stands at 1.75%, a figure much higher than that accepted in Western countries.

In St. Petersburg, the second largest city in the country, the authorities decided to close the cafes, restaurants and bars during the three days before and after the new year, in an attempt to curb the raging epidemic in the city.